366 
those which touch so closely the pecuniary 
and physical well-being of every one. But 
the reason is not hard to find. The engi- 
neer is judged more by his peers, while the 
lawyer’s or physician’s success is depend- 
ent very largely upon the public. The ca- 
pacity of the engineer must invariably be 
made apparent to men of affairs and ability, 
while the lawyer or physician is judged, 
for the most part, by those who are incom- 
petent to determine his real merits. 
Undoubtedly, as the years go by, more 
rigorous requirements will be demanded 
from the engineer, as from the lawyer and 
physician, but I do not believe that they will 
ever be very great in extent, save as new 
methods of teaching are developed, and 
these will require ability and capacity 
_ rather than time. The engineer may en- 
ter upon active life at the age of twenty- 
four or -five at the outside, fully grounded 
in the principles of his profession. No 
gap is left in his education between the 
high school and his strictly professional 
course, but the one grades into the other in 
an harmonious way. Though he graduates 
with the commonplace degree of Bachelor of 
Science, it represents, on the average, more 
college work than does that of Doctor of 
Medicine. 
If, then, the learned professions are drift- 
ing away more and more from the college 
of liberal arts, what is the object ofa general 
college education? What does the average 
young man or young woman have in view 
when he enters upon a four years’ course 
leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts? 
Undoubtedly the larger number have noth- 
ing definite in view. They are actuated, 
for the most part, by the desire for a better 
education, without any clear idea of what 
they wish to accomplish in life. Had the 
student in the high school a definite con- 
ception of his future work in life he would 
be more apt to seek that special training 
which would most enhance his prospects 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Von. VI. No. 154. 
for success. Many of the universities and 
colleges have endeavored to attract those 
students who have determined upon their 
life work, and who would otherwise skip 
the general college course, by offering some 
choice of studies, or by permitting the last 
year in the course for the arts degree to be 
spent in the professional school. This sys- 
tem of optionals has, perhaps, reached its 
highest development at Harvard and Le- 
land Stanford Universities, where not only 
great latitude is allowed in the entrance 
conditions, but the whole college course is 
made up more or less fully of optional 
studies. That this system has been popu- 
lar is shown by the more rapid growth of 
these and similar institutions as compared 
with the more conservative institutions, 
where many of the older classical require- 
ments are yet rigidly insisted upon. 
But, the system of optionals has gone 
quite far enough in some directions, not 
far enough in others. The average stu- 
dent, who has not yet made up his mind 
what he will do with himself, is bewildered 
and confused by the multiplicity of studies 
opened up before him. He is not com- 
petent to judge what is best for himself, 
and he needs at this time, more than at any 
other in his life, the advice and assistance 
of those who have gone before him over those 
labyrinthine roads; and he rarely gets it. 
The study of Chinese jurisprudence seems 
to have as much importance in the college 
curriculum as do other subjects, and, if the 
teacher is popular or ‘ easy,’ he selects it. 
If he is working for his degree, as unfortu- 
nately most undergraduate-students in the 
college are, he picks out the ‘soft snaps’ 
in college parlance and tries to double up 
on his studies that he may get through the 
sooner. Throughout all his preliminary 
course in the high school, as well as in his 
freshman and sophomore years, the study 
of language and mathematics has been 
strongly emphasized and hehas had hardly 
